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Massachusetts Creditor Claims
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Massachusetts Creditor Claims

Massachusetts runs no notice-to-creditors window. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801 is Reserved, and § 3-803 gives a creditor 1 year from the date of death to sue.

By Settled Editorial

Massachusetts runs no notice-to-creditors window. The uniform notice section, M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801, is Reserved here and carries no text, so nothing a personal representative publishes starts a claim clock. One deadline controls instead: § 3-803(a) gives a creditor 1 year after the date of death to sue and to serve or file notice.

That single rule makes Massachusetts different from almost every state around it, and it is the fact competitor pages get wrong most often. This guide walks through the one-year bar, how a creditor commences a claim, the carve-outs that survive the deadline, the separate MassHealth track, and how a personal representative pays debts without owing the money out of pocket. Read it with the Massachusetts executor duties guide, the Massachusetts debt payment priority guide, and the Massachusetts probate timeline. Confirm any date that touches your estate with your Register of Probate or a licensed Massachusetts attorney.

Massachusetts Has No Notice to Creditors Period

Open M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801 on the Legislature's site and the whole section reads "Reserved." Massachusetts adopted the Uniform Probate Code but left that section blank, so the limitation in § 3-803 does all the work, and it runs from the date of death rather than from any notice.

So if you read that a Massachusetts estate has a four-month claim period, or a one-year period that runs from first publication, the page is importing another state's rule. Neither exists here. A personal representative cannot shorten the estate's exposure by publishing anything, and a creditor cannot lose a claim because a newspaper notice ran and the calendar turned.

Here is what that changes on the ground. The clock starts at death, not at appointment and not at publication, so an estate that opens late has already burned part of the year. Many Massachusetts personal representatives hold the estate open past month twelve on purpose so the bar has run before anything reaches the heirs.

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The One-Year Bar: M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803

Section 3-803(a) sets the rule in one sentence, and it has two halves. A personal representative is not held to answer to a creditor's action unless that action is commenced within 1 year after the date of death, and unless, before the year expires, one of three things has happened:

  1. Process in the action has been served by delivery in hand upon the personal representative.
  2. The personal representative has accepted service.
  3. A notice has been filed with the register stating the name of the estate, the name and address of the creditor, the amount of the claim, and the court where the action was brought.

Miss either half and the claim dies. A creditor who files suit on day 360 and serves on day 370 is out.

The section reaches past the probate estate as well. Under § 3-803(b), a trustee of a trust whose assets are reachable by the decedent's creditors as a matter of substantive law gets the same protection: no action against that trustee unless it is commenced against that trustee, or against the personal representative of the deceased, within the same year and in the same manner. Either target, filed in time, keeps the claim alive. That trustee also carries the § 3-807 immunity a personal representative has.

SituationDeadlineStatute
Creditor action against the personal representativeCommenced within 1 year after the date of death, plus in-hand service, accepted service, or a register notice inside that year§ 3-803(a)
Creditor action against a trustee whose trust assets creditors can reachSame 1-year window, same service or filing step§ 3-803(b)
Claim already barred where the decedent was domiciledBarred in Massachusetts too§ 3-803(c)
Personal injury or wrongful death paid only from liability insurance or a bondCommenced not later than 3 years after the cause of action accrues§ 3-803(d)(2)
Late claim by a creditor free of culpable neglectComplaint in equity to the Supreme Judicial Court, with a § 3-803(a) notice filed at once§ 3-803(e)

One more limit sits next to these. Under § 3-802, a claim already barred by a statute of limitations at the decedent's death cannot be allowed or paid, though an estate that is not insolvent may waive the limitations defense with the consent of every successor whose interest the waiver would affect.

How a Creditor Commences a Claim (§ 3-804)

Massachusetts does not use a claim form mailed to the personal representative. Section 3-804(2) says claims against a decedent's estate are commenced by a proceeding against the personal representative in any court that can reach that personal representative, and the proceeding has to start inside the time limit. A creditor who was already suing the decedent when the decedent died presents nothing new: § 3-804(2) exempts matters claimed in proceedings that were pending at death.

Two details catch people out. Section 3-804(1) applies the same in-hand service, accepted service, or register-notice requirement to any other limitation period the chapter provides, so the service step is not unique to the one-year rule. And under § 3-804(3) a creditor may sue a special personal representative within the § 3-803 period, but the court stays that action until a general personal representative is appointed and substituted as the defendant.

A judgment alone does not let a creditor take estate property. Section 3-812 blocks any execution or levy against estate property under a judgment against the decedent or the personal representative, except to enforce a mortgage, pledge, or lien in an appropriate proceeding. The creditor gets in line instead.

What the § 3-306(b) Publication Actually Does

Within 30 days after informal probate or appointment, the petitioner publishes notice once in a newspaper the Register of Probate designates, with general circulation in the county where the proceeding is pending (§ 3-306(b)). Section 3-306(c) spells out what the notice says: who the petitioner and personal representative are, that the estate is being administered informally without court supervision, that inventory and accounts are not filed with the court, and that interested parties may ask the court for formal proceedings.

Read that list again. Not one line asks a creditor to do anything. The publication is notice of the proceeding to interested parties, it runs after appointment rather than before, and it starts no period.

Two notices in § 3-306 do carry real consequences, and both go out 7 days before the petition. Note what the consequence is: § 3-306(f) makes a failure to give the subsection (a) notice a breach of duty to the persons concerned, while expressly providing that it does not affect the validity of the probate, the appointment, or the powers that follow. Subsection (a) requires written notice to all heirs and devisees, to anyone with a prior or equal right to appointment who has not waived it, and to any personal representative whose appointment has not ended. Subsection (g) requires the petitioner to send a copy of the petition and the death certificate by certified mail to the division of medical assistance. That subsection governs informal probate; formal testacy carries the same duty under § 3-403(g), so the MassHealth mailing is required on either route. Skipping the MassHealth mailing is a common reason a Massachusetts filing comes back.

Claims the One-Year Bar Does Not Touch (§ 3-803(d) and (e))

Section 3-803(d) keeps three things outside the bar:

  • Liens. Any proceeding to enforce a mortgage, pledge, or other lien on estate property survives. A mortgage follows the house whether or not anyone files a claim.
  • Insured injury and death claims. A personal injury or death action against the personal representative may be brought more than a year after the death, so long as it starts within 3 years after the cause of action accrues. A judgment in that action is satisfied only out of a liability bond or liability insurance, never out of general estate assets. If no personal representative has been appointed, the action may be maintained naming the decedent as defendant, with service made on the insurer or the bond provider.
  • Fiduciary and professional compensation. Collection of compensation for services and reimbursement of expenses advanced by the personal representative, or by the estate's attorney or accountant, is not cut off.

Section 3-803(e) is the narrow late door. A creditor who did not prosecute a claim in time may file a complaint in equity in the Supreme Judicial Court. The court may enter judgment for the amount of the claim when justice and equity require it and the creditor is not chargeable with culpable neglect, provided a notice like the one § 3-803(a) describes is filed in the proper registry of probate as soon as the complaint is filed. That judgment does not reach any payment or distribution the estate made before the complaint and notice landed. The dates of any distribution matter here, because they define what a late creditor can still reach.

MassHealth Runs on Its Own Track (c. 118E, §§ 31 and 32)

Section 3-803(f) sends MassHealth claims to a different statute. When the decedent received medical assistance under c. 118E at age 55 or older, or while an inpatient in a nursing facility or another medical setting, M.G.L. c. 118E, § 32 governs the notice and the division's claim, and § 31 governs recovery. For what the division can reach, the deferrals it has to honor, and the hardship waiver, see MassHealth estate recovery in Massachusetts.

Section 32(b) gives the division two ways in. It may file a written statement of the amount claimed with the registry of probate within 4 months after approval of the personal representative's official bond, delivering or mailing a copy to the personal representative, or it may commence an action within 1 year after the date of death. A claim filed by written statement counts as presented the day it hits the registry.

What follows is a strict exchange of letters:

  • The personal representative has 60 days from presentment to mail the division a certified-mail notice that the claim is disallowed in whole or in part, that circumstances requiring deferral under § 31 exist, or that the division should waive recovery for undue hardship (§ 32(d)).
  • Failing to mail a disallowance notice is deemed an allowance of the claim. Failing to assert deferral or hardship is deemed an admission that those circumstances do not exist.
  • If the division amends the amount due while its claim period is open, the personal representative gets another 60 days to respond (§ 32(e)).
  • The division has 60 days after a disallowance to sue (§ 32(f)).
  • Allowed claims carry interest at 3.25 percent a year, starting 4 months plus 60 days after approval of the official bond (§ 32(g)).

Two traps deserve their own line. If the petitioner never sends the petition and death certificate to the division and the decedent received recoverable assistance, § 32(a) makes any person who receives a distribution from the estate liable to the division up to the amount of that distribution. And under § 3-805(a)(6), a debt due to the division sits sixth in the payment order, behind administration costs, funeral expenses, federally preferred debts and taxes, last-illness medical bills, and Massachusetts-preferred debts and taxes.

Ranking and Paying Claims (§§ 3-805, 3-806, 3-807)

When the estate cannot cover everything, § 3-805(a) sets the order:

  1. Costs and expenses of administration.
  2. Reasonable funeral expenses.
  3. Debts and taxes with preference under federal law.
  4. Reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, including compensation of the people who attended the decedent.
  5. Debts and taxes with preference under other Massachusetts laws.
  6. Debts due to the division of medical assistance.
  7. All other claims.

No claim gets preference over another claim in the same class, and a claim that is due gets no preference over one that is not yet due (§ 3-805(b)). The Massachusetts debt payment priority guide works through the classes with examples of what lands where.

Allowance in Massachusetts happens through the courts rather than through a mailed acceptance. Under § 3-806(a), a judgment against the personal representative in another court to enforce a claim is an allowance of that claim, and § 3-806(b) runs interest on allowed claims at the legal rate from the date of judgment unless a contract sets its own rate. Short of judgment, § 3-813 lets a personal representative compromise a presented claim, due or not due, absolute or contingent, when the compromise serves the estate's best interest.

Payment waits for the calendar. Section 3-807(a) tells the personal representative to pay allowed claims in priority order once the § 3-803 time limit has expired, after providing for family allowances, for claims presented but not yet allowed or under appeal, and for unbarred claims that may still be presented. A claimant whose claim is allowed but unpaid can petition the court for an order directing payment to the extent estate funds are available. One statutory exception sits outside that calendar: under § 3-1203, where the value of the entire estate less liens and encumbrances does not exceed family allowances, exempt property, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and the reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, the personal representative may disburse and distribute immediately without giving notice to creditors, and close under § 3-1204.

Secured and uncertain claims get their own math. Section 3-809 pays a secured claim on the full allowed amount if the creditor surrenders the security, and otherwise on the allowed amount less the value of that security. Section 3-810 pays a contingent or not-yet-due claim as an ordinary claim of its class once it becomes certain, or lets the personal representative and the court arrange a trust, a bond, or security from a distributee. The present or agreed value route is not unilateral: § 3-810(b)(1) allows it only if the claimant consents.

Insolvency and the Six-Month Rule (§ 3-807)

Two subsections decide whether a Massachusetts personal representative sleeps well.

If the estate will probably be insufficient to pay its debts, § 3-807(b) requires the personal representative to represent the estate insolvent to the court, then divide what remains among the creditors who prove their debts, under a court order and after notice to everyone interested. Once an estate is represented insolvent, no separate action lies against the personal representative except for a preferred claim or where assets turn out to be more than enough.

Section 3-807(c) is the safe harbor. If the personal representative has not, within 6 months after the date of death, received notice of demands sufficient to warrant representing the estate insolvent, the personal representative may pay the estate's debts after those 6 months and is not personally liable to any creditor for payments made before notice of that creditor's demand arrived. Pay out everything before another demand shows up and § 3-807(d) discharges the personal representative on proof of the payments. Pay out most of it and § 3-807(e) limits liability on a later demand to what is left.

Outside that shelter, § 3-807(g) is where personal money is lost. A personal representative may pay any just, unbarred claim at any time, with or without formal presentation, but is personally liable to another allowed claimant who is injured by that payment when either of these is true:

  • Payment went out before the § 3-807(a) time limit expired and the personal representative did not require the payee to give adequate security for a refund.
  • Payment went out in a way that, through the personal representative's negligence or willful fault, deprived the injured claimant of priority.

Section 3-808 adds the contract and tort side: a personal representative is not individually liable on a contract properly entered into in a fiduciary capacity unless the contract hides that capacity, and is individually liable only when personally at fault for obligations arising from ownership or control of the estate or for torts committed during administration.

Voluntary Administration and Creditors (§ 3-1201)

The small-estate path does not create a separate creditor window. A voluntary personal representative may file 30 days after the death when the estate is entirely personal property, meaning one motor vehicle the decedent owned plus other personal property of $25,000 or less, and no petition for appointment is on file in the decedent's county.

That filer still answers to creditors. Section 3-1201 requires the voluntary personal representative to discharge funeral and last-sickness expenses and the necessary expenses of administration first, without a fee for the filer's own services, then to pay the estate's debts in the § 3-805 order, and only then to distribute the balance. The statement must certify that copies of the statement and the death certificate went to the division of medical assistance by certified mail. Where the decedent received recoverable assistance, c. 118E, § 32 applies with two changes: the division presents its claim within 4 months after the register dockets the statement, and interest begins 4 months plus 60 days after that date. A voluntary personal representative who mishandles the estate is liable as a personal representative in his own wrong to everyone aggrieved, and to the rightful personal representative if the court later issues letters.

Are Massachusetts Families Liable for the Debts?

Usually not. A decedent's solo debts belong to the estate, and a relative owes them only after co-signing, holding a joint account, or personally agreeing to pay. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes the same answer for collectors who call surviving family members.

Massachusetts adds one exception worth remembering. When the petitioner fails to send the petition and death certificate to the division of medical assistance and the decedent received assistance the division can recover, c. 118E, § 32(a) makes anyone who received a distribution from that estate liable to the division up to the value of what they received. That exposure traces back to the certified mailing, which is why the receipt for it is worth keeping.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do creditors have to file a claim against a Massachusetts estate?

One year after the date of death. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-803(a) says a personal representative cannot be held to answer to a creditor's action unless the action is commenced within 1 year after the death and, before that year runs out, process is served in hand on the personal representative, service is accepted, or a notice of the action is filed with the register.

Does a Massachusetts personal representative publish a notice to creditors?

No. M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-801, the uniform notice-to-creditors section, is Reserved in Massachusetts and carries no text. The publication required within 30 days after informal probate under § 3-306(b) tells interested parties the estate is being administered without court supervision. It is notice of the proceeding, and it starts no claim period.

What happens if a creditor sues but never serves the personal representative?

The claim is barred. Filing suit inside the year is only half of what § 3-803(a) asks. Before the year expires the creditor must also serve process in hand on the personal representative, have service accepted, or file a notice with the register naming the estate, the creditor and address, the amount claimed, and the court where the action was brought.

Can a Massachusetts creditor file a claim after the year runs out?

Rarely, and only through the Supreme Judicial Court. Under § 3-803(e) a creditor may file a complaint in equity, and the court may enter judgment against the estate when justice and equity require it and the creditor is not chargeable with culpable neglect. A notice under § 3-803(a) must be filed in the registry of probate at once, and the judgment does not disturb payments already made.

When does MassHealth have to present its claim against an estate?

M.G.L. c. 118E, § 32(b) gives the division of medical assistance two routes: file a written statement of the amount claimed with the registry of probate within 4 months after approval of the personal representative's official bond, or commence an action within 1 year after the date of death. The personal representative then has 60 days from presentment to respond.

Can a Massachusetts personal representative be personally liable for paying a debt?

Yes. Under M.G.L. c. 190B, § 3-807(g), a personal representative who pays a claim before the § 3-803 limit expires without requiring the payee to give adequate security for a refund, or who pays in a way that negligently or willfully deprives another claimant of priority, is personally liable to the injured claimant.

Related Guides

Every estate carries its own facts. Check the dates that matter to yours with your Register of Probate or a licensed Massachusetts attorney, and use the Massachusetts probate hub for the rest of the series.

Sources:

It is not legal advice.

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Information current as of July 29, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Massachusetts can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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